The Wizard Wolf: WindWard Book One Read online

“Well, yeah, it was weird, but I never thought it was…I mean, it was always blamed on me, even though people knew I couldn’t have possibly done it. I’ve got a temper, like you probably already noticed, and people could blame it on my temper. I was almost diagnosed with IED, Intermittent Explosive Disorder. The short end of a long story is that it basically meant I would blow up on people without much warning. When those ‘episodes’ happened, it generally meant something weird happened. I always joked that I had a poltergeist following me around,” Kell said with a faint laugh.

  “Sounds more like telekinesis than a ghost,” Johnny said.

  Kell cocked his head. “Like, moving stuff with my mind?”

  Johnny nodded. “That’s a very basic summation of what the ability is. It’s a cousin to my telepathy, begetting a sensitivity to the world, while translating the user’s thoughts out into the world. In my case, the sensitivity is related to thoughts. I receive an understanding of what’s being shown to me. You directly affect the world, moving and shifting objects at a whim, or in your case, wild impulse.”

  Kell could see a faraway look in Johnny’s eyes. “Are you…is there more to this thought of yours or have you just checked out on me after telling me I have powers?”

  Johnny laughed, pushing away from the table to stand straight. “If you think that’s a lot to take in, I’m about to add to it. I’ve been hearing rumors of the different groups, both Children and Vigil alike, looking for someone they were missing. You just happen to fit the profile of what they might be seeking.”

  Kell thought about how determined the Vigil men had been to get him. “Must be one hell of a person to be looking for.”

  Johnny nodded. “The Windward.”

  “Sounds very official and mysterious, and you’ve taken a sufficiently dramatic pause for effect,” Kell said, holding his hand out in a gesture for Johnny to continue.

  Johnny chuckled, giving him a playful wink. “Basically, they’re Children of the Moon, so connected to the natural world that they have an effect on it. Being the Windward would give you the ability to affect the weather, or as you noted before, be affected by the weather. Telekinesis would make sense as well, as a manifestation of the ‘wind’ element the Ward is associated with. Hell, if I were to go even further, I might even say your previous almost diagnosis as a child of IED would fit the bill as well. Just as the weather shifts and changes on a whim, it sounds like your emotions do the same.”

  Kell wouldn’t say on a whim, but he wasn’t going to argue the point just yet. “So you think I’m this Windward, based off just that?”

  Johnny grinned. “It would be enough information for the Vigil to act on. Especially if they knew you were a ten-month child.”

  “Some kids are born earlier than that,” Kell said.

  “Yes, but very few are born past the nine-month period, at least not to such a significant degree as to be almost ten months. That sort of ‘out of the norm’ scenario is quick to catch the eye of someone who’s paying attention. If you caught their eye in the past, they would’ve been willing to dig even further, and a ten-month pregnancy would stand out,” Johnny explained.

  “And they just happened to be the ones coming after me first,” Kell said, thinking of the Children of the Moon.

  “They’d be the first to act on anything of the sort. They’re more in the human world than the Children are and have the resources to dig as far and as deep as they wish. And they want to control and destroy any Child of the Moon they can get their hands on, so they have a vested interest in making sure the Wards don’t get out of their hands. And if the other Children catch wind of it…things won’t be much better with them,” Johnny explained.

  Kell slumped. “I take it they’re not big fans of these Wards either huh?”

  Johnny shook his head. “Some aren’t, but to others, it doesn’t matter. With their strong connection to the natural forces of the world, Wards represent power, and when you’re fighting a constant war with others, power is what you need. If there’s even the slightest rumor of a Ward’s existence somewhere out in the world, you can guarantee the Children are going to swoop down fast on it.”

  “Is this a common problem?” Kell asked, trying to find a way to argue his way around Johnny’s logic.

  “Hunting down Wards? Not really. Most people nowadays don’t even believe in them, there hasn’t been a Ward found in ages. If you ask me, I’m inclined to believe the rumors that it’s because of the Vigil. If there’s any Child in the world who represents the greatest threat to their ideals, it would be a Ward. But from what I’ve heard, if there ever was enough evidence out there for a Ward’s existence, the Children would be more than willing to work with the Vigil to get at them, and probably vice versa. Once they have the Ward, I’m sure they’d go right back to their normal fighting for the prize,” Johnny said grimly.

  “So, we’re not hiding somewhere a Child of the Moon would know where to find us, right?” Kell asked with a glance around the apartment.

  Johnny shook his head. “I made sure we’re off the grid for a little while. It won’t last, but it’ll do for a short-term hideaway.”

  Kell peered at him. “You suspected this from the beginning, didn’t you?”

  Johnny winced. “I wouldn’t say the very beginning. I knew the Vigil wouldn’t send a three-man hit squad after someone of little consequence. What I heard in your mind earlier tipped me off a little, and a few other things gave me an idea.”

  Kell reached out, taking Johnny’s hand in his. For a brief moment, his body’s surging hormones stilled as he curled his fingers around Johnny’s longer ones. He smiled at Johnny, giving his hand a reassuring and grateful squeeze.

  “You threw yourself into the middle of this, not knowing me, but knowing the possible risk of helping me. Thank you, Johnny,” Kell said softly.

  Johnny’s mouth opened, hesitated, and then snapped shut. They stared at each other, Johnny’s blank face giving away his surprise while Kell patiently waited. He might not be the best at holding onto things, but he knew how to be grateful when it counted. Kell hoped after the life of disappointment and loss he’d led, he would know when to acknowledge a good thing when it looked him in the eye.

  The warm silence between them began to buzz in Kell’s ear, with the oddest sensation at the back of his mind. It was as if something was tingling, bouncing around frantically in his mind. When Kell turned his attention to the sensation, a wash of emotion and sensation pushed through him.

  Kell’s fingers tightened around Johnny’s as foreign emotions and memories bubbled up in his mind. They were too fast and glaringly bright for him to make sense of completely, but he caught the theme. Heartache and loss seared through the lining of his skull, and his stomach dropped as despair and disappointment sank into him. There was a desire for something that couldn’t be had, and anger and bitterness at a world which restrained. At the core of it all, though, was a flickering light, a desire for goodness and strength, hope for a better future, even as life made it plain the chances of such a change were slim. The worst was the slithering black emotion which wove between each thought and memory, dancing closer as Kell watched in wonder.

  Johnny’s fingers pulled from his and the reality of the apartment came slamming back into Kell’s senses. Jarred mentally, Kell took a step back, reaching out to steady himself on the nearby wall. His thoughts jumping erratically, too quick for him to follow, and he looked up at Johnny with wonder. Kell was startled to find fear and pain on Johnny’s face, and he realized he had seen into Johnny’s mind, into his memories.

  “Is that…was that...” Kell began, unsure how to ask the question.

  Johnny’s eyes were wide. “How did you do that?”

  Kell shook his head. “I don’t even know what that was.”

  “You were in my head,” Johnny whispered.

  “I don’t know how,” Kell said, still holding himself against the wall.

  Something in Johnny’s expression shifted and
the fear evaporated with a grin. “Were I to guess, I would say your powers are beginning to grow. You’ve spent most of your life suppressing them, and now that you’ve started to believe in something more, your mind must be expanding enough to start tapping into your gifts. And perhaps, my presence is helping a little as well, as a catalyst to the process or maybe just a guide.”

  Johnny’s expression of pleasure and triumph would have been convincing before Kell had seen into his mind. But to Kell, the expression seemed forced, put as a brave front to conceal his inner thoughts. Before the connection had broken, Kell had caught the briefest of insights into the darkness he’d noticed moving throughout Johnny’s thoughts.

  It had been fear, more specifically, Johnny’s fear of himself. Under all the pain, and then beneath the hope, was the horrible fear that Johnny would ruin everything he touched. Deep down, Johnny lived perhaps a lonelier life than Kell, but the worst was that he believed he deserved it. Why someone who would put themselves in such danger for someone they barely knew would feel they deserved a bleak and lonely life, Kell didn’t know. The thought made his chest tighten but he knew better than to say a word. Johnny was putting on a brave face, one that Kell took to mean never to mention what had happened, and especially, to speak nothing of what he might have seen.

  Kell took a deep breath, nodding slowly. “So this is probably lending some weight to your theory, huh?”

  “And then some,” Johnny said with a grin.

  Kell gave up holding himself, standing straight, happy to find his legs steady. “So now what?”

  Johnny chuckled mirthlessly. “Well, there’s a good chance I’m currently on the run with the first free Ward in who knows how long. The Vigil already has your number from the looks of things and I’m sure they’ll not hesitate in expanding their efforts. I, however, am an unknown, so that might be a considerable delay in their plans.”

  “Until they figure out that something not so human is going on and decide to bring in bigger guns,” Kell said.

  Johnny nodded. “Which they will, and if their increased focus on you doesn’t draw the attention of the Children, your expanding powers will.”

  Kell eyed him, the corners of his mouth twitching. “This sounds like a really long-winded summary of what we already know to cover up for the fact that you don’t actually know what we should do next.”

  Johnny deflated. “You do enjoy taking the fun out of things, don’t you?”

  Kell laughed, turning to head into the living room. “It’s fun to watch you get frustrated for a moment when I steal your good time away from you. If you ask me, I think you like it.”

  “The merits of that idea are debatable at best,” Johnny said from his place beside the table.

  Kell flopped down on the couch with a groan. “Well, can we debate them over some food? After being attacked, chased, and hiding all day, I’m absolutely starving.”

  Johnny rolled his eyes, but Kell caught the small smile on his face before he turned completely away. Johnny was busying himself looking up places to order food while Kell made himself comfortable. It looked like they were going to be holed up for a little while, after all.

  As Kell watched Johnny’s strong shoulders ever so slightly stretch the fabric of his shirt, he thought maybe there were worse places to be locked up.

  Chapter 4

  Johnny

  Johnny found it amusing to watch Kell as he practically inhaled the pizza they’d ordered. Having had nothing else in the apartment to sustain them, Johnny had made a quick trip down to a nearby store for a few other items. He’d made Kell swear up and down he wouldn’t answer the door and would pretend no one was home if anyone came knocking. Johnny had been a bundle of nerves the entire time he’d been gone, despite the trip having taken him only about fifteen minutes.

  When he’d returned, Kell had been asleep on the couch. Kell had stirred briefly when the door opened, but when he heard Johnny reassure him, he’d curled back up and fallen asleep again. Johnny had dug in the closet, after setting the groceries aside, to find a blanket to cover Kell with. Johnny had kept watch over Kell while he’d slept away the hour it took the pizza to arrive, taking the time to absorb everything that had happened.

  It was the smell of the pizza, rather than the knocking on the door, which had succeeded in rousing Kell from his nap. The man had emerged from a bundle of blankets, red hair sticking up in every direction, as he eyed the pizza box hungrily. Not wishing to get between Kell and his food, Johnny had happily slid the box across the counter to him.

  “God, there’s so much meat on this, I love it,” Kell muttered around a mouthful of pizza.

  “Wasn’t sure what you wanted, so I just went with everything but a few infamously disliked vegetables,” Johnny told him as he nibbled on his own slice.

  Kell sighed happily. “It’s so nice to have pizza again. Haven’t been able to justify buying one in ages, except for a cheap slice of cheese from places here and there.”

  “Dare I ask what you normally eat?” Johnny asked.

  Kell grunted. “Budget food.”

  Nothing more needed to be said as Johnny nodded his understanding. He’d seen the kind of foods people ate when they were constrained by their finances, and it made him wish he’d chosen something better than pizza for their meal. Kell seemed perfectly happy with the food, though, and it made Johnny even sadder to see the man’s joy at so small a thing. In his mind, Johnny figured Kell’s life had to have been hard and stretched to find a quick order of pizza to be a treat.

  Not that Johnny was any stranger to having a hard life, or a lonely one for that matter. While he was doing his best to ignore the fact that Kell had seen more of Johnny’s life than most could claim to, it still nagged at him. It was an uncomfortable feeling, knowing someone, even briefly, had been privy to the inner workings of his mind. All his thoughts, memories, and emotions had been laid bare in that one moment for Kell, and it left Johnny feeling naked. He supposed he could truly understand why people loathed his own mind reading ability so much.

  Just like any other time he’d begun to grow a little too close to someone else for comfort, Johnny felt the itch to find a new city to haunt for a little while. The problem was, he couldn’t very well leave Kell on his own. Kell was vulnerable in his ignorance of the world of the Children, and even more so with his powers only just beginning to grow. Johnny had promised to take care of him until they could find a safe place for him and he refused to let himself bow out of it over some discomfort.

  Pride rose up to mingle with the discomfort and fear in his mind. The Children of the Moon were supposed to help Wards, to guide them and protect them while they came into their power. Somewhere along the line, so many of the Children had forgotten their sacred duty, seeing Wards as a means to an end, a weapon to wield against their foes. Johnny found he liked the idea of snubbing the greedy Children, particularly the Coven, who would ignore their duty for the sake of personal gain.

  Kell hummed happily, grabbing one of the beers off the table. “So, that was the first meal I’ve had today, and I might have overdone it.”

  Johnny looked at the box, which held only two meager pieces left. “That could be considered an understatement. And how is it you’ve only eaten once?”

  Kell winced. “I might have forgotten to eat.”

  “Well, you have been a little preoccupied,” Johnny said.

  “Nah, I just meant all day, even before all this mess fell down on my head,’ Kell explained.

  Johnny raised a brow. “How does one forget to eat?”

  Kell shrugged. “I don’t know. I get so caught up in what’s going on in my head, thinking about the day and what I’m going to do, that I just…forget. Are you telling me you’ve never forgotten to eat?”

  Johnny snorted. “Not to the extent that it’s become an expected part of my life as it so obviously has for you.”

  “We all have our quirks,” Kell said, sticking his tongue out.

  Johnny w
atched as Kell’s foot bobbed up and down. “Feeling a little restless?”

  “I’m not used to being cooped up for too long. There any chance there’s a nearby place we could go and just sit?” Kell asked.

  “We’re supposed to be lying low, and how does going out somewhere to sit constitute as a relief for your restlessness?” Johnny asked with an arched brow.

  Kell drained the last of his beer. “Because I like to people watch. It can be fun, and it’s interesting being around people and their conversations, music, while having a few drinks. It’s soothing.”

  “Something tells me this isn’t simply an occasional thing for you,” Johnny said.

  Kell grinned. “You’d be right, but it’d be a boring and annoying story to listen to. But am I right in guessing you’re not against the idea?”

  Johnny sighed, finding his last bit of resistance wilting in the face of Kell’s excitement. “There is a bar nearby, yes. And while it’s true that we’ve moved away from where the Vigil was originally looking for you, it may not be wise to leave here.”

  “That’s not a ‘no’ I’m hearing,” Kell said, bouncing up from the couch.

  Johnny eyed him. “It wasn’t a ‘yes’ either.”

  Kell turned from picking up his coat. “Oh, come on. We can get a couple of drinks, hide in a dark corner, and get to know one another a little. You know how long it’s been since I wanted to sit down and talk to someone? Might as well enjoy it while we can, right?”

  Johnny looked up into Kell’s hopeful eyes and let out a long-suffering sigh. He’d known the battle was lost the moment Kell had shown excitement at the idea, but it didn’t mean he had to like losing.

  “Only for an hour,” Johnny said as he pushed up from the couch.

  Kell’s grin was wide. “Or two!”

  * * *

  Johnny frequented many bars in his travels around the world, and he was always amused to find that save for the occasional themed bar, they were all the same. They came in differing levels of cleanliness but they were almost always dim, had a few groups of regulars, and the music was usually a garbled mesh of decades old music that could barely be heard. Bars across the sea were typically a little more brightly lit, but the atmosphere, which was intimate, was almost always the same.